Gail Smith - Admin. Director

Smith, who started working at the church in November 1997, is Pastor Mike Housholder, senior pastor and Chris Gunnare, Operations Director assistant,along with many other duties such as lead of the office area, works with hospitality, manages the database, helps organize all the "garage door events" (Easter, Taste of Hope, Christmas) and works with the webteam.

But before all that, Smith was growing up in Ottawa, Illinois, where she attended church with her family. She left Illinois to study music at the University of Iowa, teaching for nine years after that. After leaving teaching, she worked several places before she kept noticing a bulletin announcement at Hope looking for a church secretary. She applied on the last day. "It was a total God thing that I applied at the last minute," she says. Her job gives her a dual view of the church. As worker, she says her favorite thing is interacting with people. "Me, as a person coming to Hope, the sermons hit home," she says. In her time on staff, she's been carefully watching the church's growth. "It's awesome to watch it. There really isn't another way to describe it. To be a part of it in the office, you see the numbers and reactions of people, you see God working through the people at Hope."

Gail is married to Tim and has 2 children, Dustin (11) and Shannon (18) and two step children, Gareth (15) and Jackie (19)

Gail has a great team to work with. Her team includes Erin Cox, Lela Griffin, Chris Schuchmann and Peggy Thaden, all office assistants; and Erica Weeklund and Laura McCall, communications.